Medical professionals are repeatedly called upon to administer medications subcutaneously to patients. Typically, the medicament is administered by a needle which has been connected to the supply from a sterile containment arrangement comprising a sheath and a cap which holds the needle for connection and which is used to dispose of the used needle safely. Numerous medicaments are put up in small, premeasured quantities in disposable syringes. These syringes typically comprise a barrel containing the medicament, and a plunger movable through the barrel to dispense the medicament. A needle structure comprising a hub with a first needle to one side and a second needle to the other side is coupled to the syringe by breaking the syringe seal with the second needle. The first needle is used to deliver the medicament to the patient.
Needles typically are provided with a sleeve or sheath which encloses the needle to avoid contamination before use and to provide a means of disposal without leaving an exposed needle after use. Sheaths are usually molded of suitable plastic and at their inner end overfit the needle structure hub securely in a firm friction fit enclosing the first needle. A cap is used to cover the second needle, the cap interfitting the sheath to form a complete enclosure of the needle structure.
When withdrawing the needle from its sheath and when reinserting the needle point first into the sheath extreme care must be taken to avoid contact of the needle point with the hands and fingers. The usual mode of insertion, however, is to grip the needle structure itself or the syringe or other attachment to the needle with one hand and to hold the sheath with the other hand. In this manner the fingers on the sheath, typically thumb and forefinger, are in jeopardy of being stuck by the needle point if the needle insertion into the sheath is off target by even a very small distance.
In these times of highly infectious, even deadly diseases being rampant in care centers, and the great speed with which medical care is necessarily being given in overcrowded facilities, the need to protect the care-giver, and others in the facility is clear.